North Texas has shortage of 10K child care workers. What’s the economic impact?
A new study on North Texas’ child care workforce shows a gap of thousands of early educators who are needed to shape early education for young children, in addition to supporting the region’s economy.
The study released on Wednesday by Child Care Associates and Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center reveals insights on the current state of child care in Tarrant County, North Central Texas and Greater Dallas that will be used to implement solutions moving forward, early childhood leaders said. The sector faces a handful of obstacles, including a shortage of 10,000 early educators needed to serve children and families at full capacity.
Child care centers in the region also experience low retention rates: 7 out of 10 lose at least 20% of their early educators annually. Part of the issue is low wages, as the average wage of early educators at center-based programs is $15.24 hourly — or about $31,700 annually. A single adult living in Dallas County needs to earn at least $22.06 hourly to meet their basic needs, according to Dallas College.
“Innovative solutions start with a clear understanding of the problem and strong data. This study gives North Texas a fresh perspective on the challenges and opportunities shaping child care access today,” said Kara Waddell, president and CEO of Child Care Associates.
“One of the most critical issues is the shortage of early educators — because without them there is no child care. Our early educators not only spark a young child’s natural sense of wonder and curiosity but also empower parents to participate in the workforce. Their work fuels every other industry impacting our region’s economic growth,” she added.
Other highlights of the study show:
- In center-based programs, 24% of educators have at least a bachelor’s degree. 60% of educators have five years or less of experience.
- 70% of available child care seats are filled. Programs have the capacity to serve about 167,500 children but currently serve about 117,700.
- Only 27% of child care program directors consider their program to be profitable.
- Fewer than one in three educators have access to employer-sponsored health insurance.
Officials released the study during Child Care Associates’ annual Early Childhood Investors’ Luncheon in downtown Fort Worth, where Executive Director of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center Cynthia Osborne shared additional data points from the study. She spoke on the limited experience and education levels within the early educator workforce driven by the minimal wages. Early educators who pursue higher education only see modest wage increases.
“We wanted to actually look at what is the level of education that (early educators) have, about half of them are straight out of high school. They have a high school degree or GED, but we do have about a quarter who have high levels of education,” Osborne said.
“What is really so damaging to this market is that regardless of the years of experience and regardless of your levels of education, there’s not really a pathway for advancement. Someone who is just starting out with a high school degree or a (bachelor’s degree), your (bachelor’s degree) gets you another $1.50 an hour. If you stay in the field for 20 plus years, you’re not even making $3 an hour more than the person who started yesterday.”
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker invited leaders from several higher education institutions to the luncheon to discuss opportunities to formally connect the early education sector with the higher education sector in addressing these obstacles. It remains to be seen how they might chart a path forward together. Parker told luncheon attendees that requirement of a four-year degree won’t solve the issues of the early educator workforce and other options need to be offered.
“It is a broken system. It won’t be fixed overnight,” Parker said. “Frankly, (early educators) don’t need a degree to show you how wonderful they are in the classroom. And understand what it looks like to teach a child to read at age 3 or 4.”
